Spring Break 2008 Vacation

For Maria's Spring Break vacation 2008, we travelled to the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia.

For photos from Pohnpei see http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/Pohnpei

For photos from Kosrae see http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/Kosrae

On the way back to Saipan, we stopped on Guam for two nights to visit friends. For photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/Guam

We had a great time on Pohnpei and Kosrae, and want to go back when Cole is old enough to Scuba dive, so we can all go together.

~Derek

March - Sportsfest month on Saipan

The early part of March was all about racing for the Chambers boys. Early in March (3/2/08), Derek participated in the Saipan Ocean Swim. Even though he was last out of the water on the 1.2 km swim, he didn't finish that far behind, and felt good enough about the swim to build up confidence for the XTERRA triathalon the following weekend.

On March 8, Derek completed the Sport course of the XTERRA triathalon, and got first place in his age division (out of 2 competitors - the other guy was disqualified because he made a wrong turn and got off the course). The sport course consisted of a 700m swim in the lagoon, a 15km? mountain bike ride across the island and back, and a 5km run.

During Derek's race, Cole competed in the XTERRA kids bike race.

The following weekend, Derek was on a team (D & T In Cooperated) for the Tagaman triathalon. The Tagaman starts with a 2 km swim in the lagoon, which was done by Saipan superteen swimmer Cooper Graf. Cooper was third out of the water, ahead of most of the professional triathletes. Tyce Mister took over from there for the 60 km road bike portion. Tyce is a very good athlete, but you have to get on the bike more than once a year to compete against the pros. Still, Tyce pulled his weight. Then he handed off to Derek for the 15km (9.2 mile) run, during the heat of the morning. Derek can do the distance, just not very fast. What started out as a big lead from Cooper, quickly went to a middle of the pack finish by Derek. Our team ended up 4th out of 20 teams. Not too bad :)

Meanwhile, Cole competed in the Tagakids triathalon. He was one of two in his age group. (The other kid was Steven!). Cole and Steven tied, crossing the finish line together. What a great ending.

See photos with captions from the Sportsfest month at http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/SportsMonthOnSaipanMarch2008

~Derek

White Christmas (in Germany - not Saipan)

We travelled to Germany to visit family over the Christmas break. We flew from Saipan to Tokyo, spent the night, then had an 11 hour flight from Tokyo to Amsterdam. Casey had a rough trip and couldn't find a comfortable place to sleep. He cried so much on the flight that he eventually lost his voice. The day after we got to Germany, Cole had a stomach virus and was sick for most of a day. We think maybe Casey also had some kind of bug during the flight. Usually he is such a happy baby. He is feeling great now. It snowed a little on Christmas Day, and went for a walk in the forest and enjoyed the snow.

We are staying at Derek's sister's house in the village of Rodenbach, which is near Hanau - which is only about 20 minutes from Frankfurt. Christmas was fun. Casey dressed up. Cole got lots of toys. Aunt T and Cole have had fun playing games and building Legos.

A friend of Maria's from Saipan, Anne, is now living in Prague, and came to Rodenbach to visit for few days. We did a road trip to the walled village of Rothenberg yesterday. No plans yet for today. Maria's brother Raf and family should show up tomorrow. They are also visiting Germany for the holidays.

The Chambers Boys

Casey is two and a half months old now. I thought I would post some photos of Casey, Cole and Casey, Maria and Casey, Derek and Casey, etc....

Photos are at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/TheChambersBoys

~Derek

Cochranes visit Saipan

This year has been the year of visitors to Saipan for us (hopefully it is not over yet Granny & Grandpa)! As Oma and Opa were packing their bags for their return trip to Seattle, the Cochrane’s arrived for a three week vacation from their work site which is located in the village of Bayanga in the country known as Central African Republic or CAR. The Cochranes lived on Saipan when we first moved here three years ago. The Cochranes’ daughter, Charlie, was Cole’s best friend for over a year when they spent many days playing on the beach, collecting crabs and shells, and working on messy art projects. The Cochranes moved to CAR about a year and a half ago, and we missed them so much that we went to visit them last summer. What an adventure that was! Tracking western lowland gorillas through the rain forest with native pygmy guides! (I’ll have to post some photos from that trip later).

We had a great time with the Cochranes during their visit on Saipan and I think they had a good time as well, since they got to see many old friends besides us. We hadn’t been to PIC that often since they used to live here. We may see them back on Saipan soon, since Erica’s contract in CAR will be finished in October, and she hasn’t renewed.

Photos from their visit are posted at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/CochranesvisitSaipan

~Derek

Cole's First Day of School August 2007

Monday August 13, 2007 was Cole's first day of school for the new school year. We all woke up around our normal time - about 6 am. After Cole ate breakfast he told me that he wished it was already summer again so that he didn't have to go to school. He hadn't even been yet! I went to take my shower, and when I got out, I thought I'd do the responsible parent thing and take a photo of Cole on his first day of school. So I grabbed the camera and went in search of Cole. Little did I know that Maria had already attempted to take Cole's photo (while I was in the shower) with little success. This was the best one of the lot:



Cole did not want his photo taken. He gets that way sometimes. Since I had the camera in hand, I decided I would give it a try. Maria wished me luck as I yelled from the kitchen out to carport where I could here Cole riding his scooter. I asked "Cole, can I take a photo of you for the first day of school." He said, "O.K." Needless to say Maria was a little upset. My results:



Maybe riding the scooter put Cole in a better mood. More likely, he probably forgot that he was previously upset about having his picture taken and just agreed with me without ralizing what he was doing. I don't chalk it up to favoritism on his part. At least we got the photo taken...

~ Derek

Oma & Opa visit Saipan

We knew that the only way to get Maria’s parents to Saipan would be to have a really good reason for them to come. So we used the new addition to our family, Casey, as the excuse. We explained that Casey could not travel because he does not have his passport yet, so if they want to see him, they’ll have to come to Saipan. Then we arranged the flights and got the tickets, so they could not refuse the trip. Oma and Opa arrived on Saipan early in the morning on July 4th, after having left Seattle on July 2nd. They arrived just in time to take in the Liberation Day parade that afternoon.

Their visit has been great. It seems that we have done nothing but eat since they have been here. Even Casey – of course all he does is eat, sleep, and a couple of other bodily functions. It seems like Casey has doubled in size during Oma and Opas visit. We’ve had Sunday brunch at the Hyatt, dinner on the beach at Pacific Islands Club, dinner at the Abyss Fisherman’s restaurant, dinner at Hard Rock Café, sushi at Sushiland, tacos on Tuesdays at Hamiltons, ribs at Tony Roma’s, BBQ at the World Resort for the traditional dancing show, lunch at Coffee Care, 5 choice for $5 at the street market, drinks at Oleai Beach Restaurant, and several trips to McDonalds. I’m sure that I’ve left out some meals, but they are all starting to run together now.

We have also done the standard sightseeing stuff, like driving up “north” to see Bonzai Cliff, Suicide Cliff, the Grotto, and Bird Island; to the top of Mt Tapachao; shopping at DFS; walks on the beach; flight to Tinian and back (Derek, Cole & Opa) to see the sights there, while Maria and Oma visit the spa at the Marianas Resort. In addition Oma and Opa have gotten to spend a lot of time with Cole and Casey, and even see there daughter in action on the soccer field.

To see photos from their visit click
http://picasaweb.google.com/bwana.derek/OmaAndOpaVisitSaipan

~Derek